PC not curable

I've been staying off the boards some because 1. It seems like I was becoming obsessive about PC and 2. I had to buckle down w/ the homeschooling we got behind on when Bob was going through his diagnosis/surgery. I belong to a PC fb page and tonight this came up in my feed. I have not included the name to keep the posters identity private.They say "Just to make things clear.. Pc is NOT curable!! It can go into Remission but it can come back at anytime and 2 SOME NOT ALL PC is slow moving!!! The Gleason score tells you if it is agressive or not!! If you do not know basic facts of this disease please do not give out wrong information! Our opinions and life experience is very VALUABLE!! But please do not give false information!! It is hard enough to get thru all the information with doctors, web sites and people giving us.. Let's not make it harder!U can throw tables and numbers around statistics DO NOT MAKE A CURE! If there was a cure there would be no reassurance, people would not live years with a psa test looming waiting for numbers to rise!! A cure = curable as of right now THERE IS NO CURE "I've read here, read Walsh's book. I've seen people here who after 9 years of 0's all of a sudden have a rise and it's back. So I bring it here to the people I trust and have done more research than I could do in years of studying. Is PC curable. I define curable as: after treatment it never ever comes back. ~Miki~My name is Miki my husband Bob- age 53 @ DXInitial PSA 8/14 was 4.1Biopsy 9-11-14Initial Results: 9/25/2014 -- 6 of 12 cores positive 3+3=6 (5%) 3+3=6 (5%) 3+3=6(3%) 3+3=6 (10%) 3+3=6 (40%) 3+4=7 (40%) PNI Left middle and Left lateral apexDaVinci RP performed 12-03-2014 Surgical path downgraded to Gleason 6Stage T2c one positive margin 30% tumor of prostate 1-8-2015 PSA 0.00

Miki, we all know that it can come back at any time. It only takes one cell escaping, and it could take years before that cell multiplies enough to cause a BCR/rise in PSA. So yeah, you can go 10 years of zeros,,then see the PSA start to rise. (Although my understanding is, that it's rare. )

I think none of us will know if we are truly cured, until we die of something else. So it's all semantics.

Your husband is as close to a cure as you can get with PCa. Walsh uses the word cure and I believe he has been at this longer then the guy on your FB page. Since there is not test that can be done to tell us that one cancer cell was left behind it is impossible to tell anyone they are cured of cancer. If you husband has BCR his chance of being "cured" again is highly highly likely. His BCR will most likely be local. This is when a positive margin is a good thing. You know "probably" where the cancer is. For someone to say that 9 years later the cancer sat dormant and then returned is impossible to tell. We don't know if the cancer was not removed the first time or if benign tissue that was left behind turned cancerous years later.

Walsh claims that in 30 years he has not lost an organ confined G6 patient. So that is as close to a cure we G6 people can get, I'll take it. Infact, in a study from Johns Hopkins 13 guys out of 2,400 had BCR during a 15 year study. All who had salvage SRT retuned to 0 PSA. So it is theorized that G6 stays local if it is not completely removed during surgery and salvage SRT cures them after.

I think the FB guy sounds a little angry. I am sure he is mad about having PCa like I was when first diagnosed. But, he is correct, there is no definitive cure for any cancer out there. Just statistics. Be happy you are in the statistics that say your husband will very very very likely die from something else one day. So much that heart disease and other cancers will get him first before PCa will. But those are stats. to....

I think Chris nailed it! I use remission to describe my current state but really no choice being a G9. I accepted early on that I was not curable but would be in and out of remission, that's ok, I can deal with that. What I would have hard time with is doing multiple treatments and have them fail to "cure" me. It's semantics, I know, but I find it psychologicaly easier on me.

In the literal sense, the OP is right. No cancer is truly curable by medicine. I wonder if he knows how many viral infections are curable by medicine? The answer to that one, my friends, is also zero.

That being said, I'll take non-detectable for a number of years. Truly curing cancer--any cancer--is, I'm afraid, far from us. To cure cancer, we need to get deeper into the gene than we've gone so far, and perhaps learn that developing cancer is hard-wired into our own genetic material, so eventually all cancer treatment will be individualized, for our own individual genetic flaws.Age at Diagnosis: 56PSA:3.3(lowered by saw palmetto)-pre 2012 <1.0, 2013 2.0, 2014 3.3Biopsy: 3 of 12, G3+3, all on LT side, 20%, 5%, 3%Clinical Stage T1CMalignant Melanoma 2006 (2 sites, 1A in situ and 1B, no lymph involvement)Bone Scan, CT scan negative for spreadRALP on 2/17/15, BJC St. Louis, Dr. FigenshauNo EPE, 20% organ involvement, g3+4 finalPSA 3/10/15: 0.10My Story: https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=35&m=3300024

I used the word curable to my pc for 20 years , until 2011 when my PSA started to rise . I will say to you what my doctor said to me" consider yourself cured but keep having a PSA test every year " I am not trying to rain on anyone parade . As for myself , I will say from this day on that my PC is in remission . Just completed 38 session of SRT and will have my first PSA test this coming Monday . Hopefully the SRT will put it back in remission for another 10-20 years.

Cure is just a word. And all words are subject to definition and to varying interpretations. Sorry, I was once an editor.

As for the meaning of cure, I'm much more comfortable thinking in the language of statistics. If I was told that based on what is known of my pathology, it could be said with 95% confidence that the probability of a recurrence in (for example) 10 years was very small -- say 1 or 2 percent, I'd take that as being a more realistic assessment than "cure" but also just about as good in terms of reassurance that I'd live to die of something else.Age 69-DX March 2002 at age 56 - PSA 9.4, 5 of 10 cores positive - 30-50%. -RP April 2002. PT3B N0 MX Gleason=7 (3+4), 75% left lobe; small focus right lobe. -Post-surgery PSA low of 0.01; slow rise to 0.4 (Aug 2009).-SRT Jan/Feb 2010. Enlarged lymph node near prostate bed targeted. Casodex 3 months during SRT -PSA 0.00 2010 through Apr 2014; 0.02 Oct 2014; 0.05 Jan 2015

Doug , some one told me it was a 5 , my surgery was done by the military at Hickman Army Medical Center HI . don't know if you every been in the military , anyone who have will tell you that they do things a little different than civilians lol.

Shaba.Doug,Wandering off topic here, but greetings from the US Navy. I and some of my squadron mates got ripped one night with a bunch of Canadian naval air guys in Bermuda in the early 70s while my American patrol squadron (VP-8) was there on mid-Atlantic anti-submarine patrol.Age 69-DX March 2002 at age 56 - PSA 9.4, 5 of 10 cores positive - 30-50%. -RP April 2002. PT3B N0 MX Gleason=7 (3+4), 75% left lobe; small focus right lobe. -Post-surgery PSA low of 0.01; slow rise to 0.4 (Aug 2009).-SRT Jan/Feb 2010. Enlarged lymph node near prostate bed targeted. Casodex 3 months during SRT -PSA 0.00 2010 through Apr 2014; 0.02 Oct 2014; 0.05 Jan 2015

Based on the numbers I have seen, the overwhelming number of guys treated for PCa never ever have their Cancer come back. Therefore, based on your definition, they are "Cured" and your fb poster is amiss.

If you define curable as "after treatment if never comes back" (which was your definition) then the vast majority are cured. If you define cure as "eventually dies of something else" you're up to 91.5%. And the numbers for low- and intermediate-risk cases are even better than that.

Hi Miki,As you know, we are still searching for Gary's elusive cure, but I wanted to say "hello" and wondering how you and hubby are doing. You have been a great support to so many here.Beth n GaryHusband age 56Dx: PC with widespread Mets to bones and nodes 11/2010 PSA @ dx 1983 Gleason 4+5 stage IVDocetaxel 1/12Zytiga7/12Smarium 5/13Xtandi 9/13 xofigo 1/14Cabazitaxel 2/14Zytiga 10/14Ongoing since dx: denosomab and LuprolideBegin RT to sacrum X 10 1/15 PSA 1/15 increased to 100 rising2/15End ZytigPilot study DRibbles vaccine begins 3/15CT shows liver lesions not present in Dec